The Northern England Raptor Forum (NERF) annual conference took place on Saturday with a record number of 170 attendees.
NERF comprises ten regional study groups (Bowland Raptor Study Group, Calderdale RSG, Cheshire RSG, Durham Upland Bird Study Group, Manchester Raptor Group, Northumbria Ringing Group, North York Moors Upland Bird (Merlin) Study Group, Peak District Raptor Monitoring Group, South Peak RSG and Yorkshire Dales & Nidderdale RSG). In addition to these experts, it was also great to see Andy Wilson, Chief Executive of the North York Moors National Park, the RSPB’s Investigations Team and the RSPB Skydancer Project, and several police wildlife crime officers from the North Yorkshire Police Rural Task Force in the audience.
[Photos: Guy Shorrock]
The annual conference rotates between the regional groups and this year it fell to the North York Moors group to organise and host, and what a fantastic job they did.
The programme included some exceptional talks by some of the most experienced raptor fieldworkers in the country, offering illuminating insights from long-term studies, some of whose hard-won data are now contributing to understanding population declines in some of these species.
Illegal persecution was high on the agenda, as you’d expect from a conference focusing on the conservation of birds of prey in the UK.
Andy Wilson’s presentation was particularly telling, laying out the frustration of the North York Moors National Park Authority in having insufficient enforcement powers to tackle wildlife crime, in contrast to its robust powers for dealing with breaches of planning law. This National Park was in the news just last week as satellite-tagged hen harrier Arthur joined the long list of those who have ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances on or near grouse moors in the region. Andy suggested that people might like to comment on the current Landscapes Review consultation which is gathering evidence on how England’s National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) should be ‘fit for the future’. If you think intensive grouse moor management and its associated wildlife crime should be ousted from our National Parks and AONBs, or that the National Park Authorities should be given increased enforcement powers, then this is your opportunity to comment.
The new NERF Chair Steve Downing used his slot in the Open Forum to deliver a strongly-worded opinion on the extent of illegal raptor persecution and the failure of the authorities to deal with it. Steve has been on the frontline of raptor protection for many many years and if anyone knows the scale of the problem, it’s him. He’s not a man to mince his words as anyone in the audience will attest.
However, there was a note of cautious optimism. Steve spoke positively about the enormous efforts of the recently-formed North Yorkshire Police Rural Task Force (who are in the middle of training up an additional 33 wildlife crime officers) and he also commented on the potential for some serious advances for the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG) under the new leadership of Police Supt Nick Lyall. As Steve said, time will tell.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Many thanks for the information from this meeting for raptor field workers in England. It is good to see so many people involved in this important monitoring work. Good luck to them with their task.
As the retired chair of NERF conference was a new experience for me not having to worry about what I was going to say and trying not to forget that last minute thing one needed to mention. I as always learned quite a lot of things caught up with friends, old and new, avoided one attendee but he was doing likewise. All in all an excellent conference. At the end Steve did an excellent job of summarising where we are at with raptor persecution at the moment and voicing that pipe dream that we all wish we could just get on studying the birds we love. People were even nice to and about me never quite sure that I deserve it! All in all well worth the weekend in Yorkshire despite the journey from Mid Wales.